Genesis 43
43
1-2The famine got worse. When they had eaten all the food they had brought back from Egypt, their father said, “Go back and get some more food.”
3-5But Judah said, “The man warned us most emphatically, ‘You won’t so much as see my face if you don’t have your brother with you.’ If you’re ready to release our brother to go with us, we’ll go down and get you food. But if you’re not ready, we aren’t going. What would be the use? The man told us, ‘You won’t so much as see my face if you don’t have your brother with you.’”
6Israel said, “Why are you making my life so difficult! Why did you ever tell the man you had another brother?”
7They said, “The man pressed us hard, asking pointed questions about our family: ‘Is your father alive? Do you have another brother?’ So we answered his questions. How did we know that he’d say, ‘Bring your brother here’?”
8-10Judah pushed his father Israel. “Let the boy go; I’ll take charge of him. Let us go and be on our way—if we don’t get going, we’re all going to starve to death—we and you and our children, too! I’ll take full responsibility for his safety; it’s my life on the line for his. If I don’t bring him back safe and sound, I’m the guilty one; I’ll take all the blame. If we had gone ahead in the first place instead of procrastinating like this, we could have been there and back twice over.”
11-14Their father Israel gave in. “If it has to be, it has to be. But do this: stuff your packs with the finest products from the land you can find and take them to the man as gifts—some balm and honey, some spices and perfumes, some pistachios and almonds. And take plenty of money—pay back double what was returned to your sacks; that might have been a mistake. Take your brother and get going. Go back to the man. And may The Strong God give you grace in that man’s eyes so that he’ll send back your other brother along with Benjamin. For me, nothing’s left; I’ve lost everything.”
15-16The men took the gifts, double the money, and Benjamin. They lost no time in getting to Egypt and meeting Joseph. When Joseph saw that they had Benjamin with them, he told his house steward, “Take these men into the house and make them at home. Butcher an animal and prepare a meal; these men are going to eat with me at noon.”
17-18The steward did what Joseph had said and took them inside. But they became anxious when they were brought into Joseph’s home, thinking, “It’s the money; he thinks we ran off with the money on our first trip down here. And now he’s got us where he wants us—he’s going to turn us into slaves and confiscate our donkeys.”
19-22So they went up to Joseph’s house steward and talked to him in the doorway. They said, “Listen, master. We came down here one other time to buy food. On our way home, the first night out we opened our bags and found our money at the mouth of the bag—the exact amount we’d paid. We’ve brought it all back and have plenty more to buy more food with. We have no idea who put the money in our bags.”
23The steward said, “Everything’s in order. Don’t worry. Your God and the God of your father must have given you a bonus. I was paid in full.” And with that, he presented Simeon to them.
24-25He then took them inside Joseph’s house and made them comfortable—gave them water to wash their feet and saw to the feeding of their donkeys. The brothers spread out their gifts as they waited for Joseph to show up at noon—they had been told that they were to have dinner with him.
26When Joseph got home, they presented him with the gifts they had brought and bowed respectfully before him.
27Joseph welcomed them and said, “And your old father whom you mentioned to me, how is he? Is he still alive?”
28They said, “Yes—your servant our father is quite well, very much alive.” And they again bowed respectfully before him.
29Then Joseph picked out his brother Benjamin, his own mother’s son. He asked, “And is this your youngest brother that you told me about?” Then he said, “God be gracious to you, my son.”
30-31Deeply moved on seeing his brother and about to burst into tears, Joseph hurried out into another room and had a good cry. Then he washed his face, got a grip on himself, and said, “Let’s eat.”
32-34Joseph was served at his private table, the brothers off by themselves and the Egyptians off by themselves (Egyptians won’t eat at the same table with Hebrews; it’s repulsive to them). The brothers were seated facing Joseph, arranged in order of their age, from the oldest to the youngest. They looked at one another wide-eyed, wondering what would happen next. When the brothers’ plates were served from Joseph’s table, Benjamin’s plate came piled high, far more so than his brothers. And so the brothers feasted with Joseph, drinking freely.
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Genesis 43: MSG
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.
Genesis 43
43
1And the famine [is] severe in the land;
2and it cometh to pass, when they have finished eating the corn which they brought from Egypt, that their father saith unto them, ‘Turn back, buy for us a little food.’
3And Judah speaketh unto him, saying, ‘The man protesting protested to us, saying, Ye do not see my face without your brother [being] with you;
4if thou art sending our brother with us, we go down, and buy for thee food,
5and if thou art not sending — we do not go down, for the man said unto us, Ye do not see my face without your brother [being] with you.’
6And Israel saith, ‘Why did ye evil to me, by declaring to the man that ye had yet a brother?’
7and they say, ‘The man asked diligently concerning us, and concerning our kindred, saying, Is your father yet alive? have ye a brother? and we declare to him according to the tenor of these things; do we certainly know that he will say, Bring down your brother?’
8And Judah saith unto Israel his father, ‘Send the youth with me, and we arise, and go, and live, and do not die, both we, and thou, and our infants.
9I — I am surety [for] him, from my hand thou dost require him; if I have not brought him in unto thee, and set him before thee — then I have sinned against thee all the days;
10for if we had not lingered, surely now we had returned these two times.’
11And Israel their father saith unto them, ‘If so, now, this do: take of the praised thing of the land in your vessels, and take down to the man a present, a little balm, and a little honey, spices and myrrh, nuts and almonds;
12and double money take in your hand, even the money which is brought back in the mouth of your bags, ye take back in your hand, it may be it [is] an oversight.
13‘And take your brother, and rise, turn back unto the man;
14and God Almighty give to you mercies before the man, so that he hath sent to you your other brother and Benjamin; and I, when I am bereaved — I am bereaved.’
15And the men take this present, double money also they have taken in their hand, and Benjamin; and they rise, and go down to Egypt, and stand before Joseph;
16and Joseph seeth Benjamin with them, and saith to him who [is] over his house, ‘Bring the men into the house, and slaughter an animal, and make ready, for with me do the men eat at noon.’
17And the man doth as Joseph hath said, and the man bringeth in the men into the house of Joseph,
18and the men are afraid because they have been brought into the house of Joseph, and they say, ‘For the matter of the money which was put back in our bags at the commencement are we brought in — to roll himself upon us, and to throw himself on us, and to take us for servants — our asses also.’
19And they come nigh unto the man who [is] over the house of Joseph, and speak unto him at the opening of the house,
20and say, ‘O, my lord, we really come down at the commencement to buy food;
21and it cometh to pass, when we have come in unto the lodging-place, and open our bags, that lo, each one's money [is] in the mouth of his bag, our money in its weight, and we bring it back in our hand;
22and other money have we brought down in our hand to buy food; we have not known who put our money in our bags.’
23And he saith, ‘Peace to you, fear not: your God and the God of your father hath given to you hidden treasure in your bags, your money came unto me;’ and he bringeth out Simeon unto them.
24And the man bringeth in the men into Joseph's house, and giveth water, and they wash their feet; and he giveth provender for their asses,
25and they prepare the present until the coming of Joseph at noon, for they have heard that there they do eat bread.
26And Joseph cometh into the house, and they bring to him the present which [is] in their hand, into the house, and bow themselves to him, to the earth;
27and he asketh of them of peace, and saith, ‘Is your father well? the aged man of whom ye have spoken, is he yet alive?’
28and they say, ‘Thy servant our father [is] well, he is yet alive;’ and they bow, and do obeisance.
29And he lifteth up his eyes, and seeth Benjamin his brother, his mother's son, and saith, ‘Is this your young brother, of whom ye have spoken unto me?’ and he saith, ‘God favour thee, my son.’
30And Joseph hasteth, for his bowels have been moved for his brother, and he seeketh to weep, and entereth the inner chamber, and weepeth there;
31and he washeth his face, and goeth out, and refraineth himself, and saith, ‘Place bread.’
32And they place for him by himself, and for them by themselves, and for the Egyptians who are eating with him by themselves: for the Egyptians are unable to eat bread with the Hebrews, for it [is] an abomination to the Egyptians.
33And they sit before him, the first-born according to his birthright, and the young one according to his youth, and the men wonder one at another;
34and he lifteth up gifts from before him unto them, and the gift of Benjamin is five hands more than the gifts of all of them; and they drink, yea, they drink abundantly with him.
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